The Supreme Court’s verdict on Wednesday directing the Centre to setup a Tribunal in a month time to adjudicate on the inter-state Mahanadi river water dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh has come as a shot in the arm for the ruling BJD reinforcing the perception advantage of a regional party as against national parties.

National parties like the BJP and Congress were not in a position to take a firm stand as they had stakes in both the states – Odisha as well as Chhattisgarh. A regional party like the BJD had no such compulsion and took the battle on its own making it an issue of regional pride as 15 of the 30 districts in the state are dependent on Mahanadi waters.

The BJP has been left red faced as its central leaders including Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari and Dharmendra Pradhan had been advocating a negotiated settlement rather than a tribunal. The dilly dallying over constituting the Tribunal had led to suspicion of tacit support to Chhattisgarh government to allow ongoing construction work. It must however be stated that the Congress leader Narasingha Mishra had stood firm on settlement by way of a Tribunal and convened an all party meeting which ironically the OPCC chief Prasad Harichandan had opposed.

The BJP, on its part, took the line that a tribunal will take time to adjudicate , hence negotiations or talks were a better option. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had gone up to the extent of noting that each of the seven river water dispute tribunals formed till date had been constituted after several years of application and their orders issued after decades.

The existing inter state water dispute act stipulates that a tribunal should be constituted within one year of a state making a formal application for it. Odisha had asked for a tribunal in November 2016, the centre had initially said it will do so by November 2017. But it did not , instead Mr Nitin Gadkari wrote the Odisha CM Naveen Patanik requesting for time for negotiations.

The centre had also taken the plea that since a bill amending the existing act and making a single tribunal for all water disputes with provision of adjudication being made time bound is pending parliament approval, the Mahanadi dispute could be negotiated and later taken up under the new act. Odisha had iterated the futility of talks as it had failed thrice. It insisted on early establishment of the Tribunal. Incidentally, BJP national executive committee member and former water resources minister in the state, Mr Bijay Mahapatra , on Wednesday said today’s SC verdict is a victory for Odisha.

I am told that even on Wednesday the centre had argued in favour of negotiations and a single tribunal etc, he remarked. The verdict has put an end to the delaying tactics of the BJP led central government, said Congress leader Narasingha Mishra. The water dispute started in 2016 when Odisha government came to know through some communication that some barrages have been setup on the upper end of the Mahanadi river by Chattisgarh Government without taking due consent and no objection from Odisha government. The BJD hit the streets in protest while the government took it up with the central  government.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik repeatedly wrote to PM Narendra Modi seeking his intervention but did not get any response. The then Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati held a tripartite meeting on 17 Sept 2016 with the CMs of Odisha and Chhattisgarh. The tripartite meeting held on 17th September, 2016 was preceded by meeting with the Chief Secretary of the Odisha Government but no conclusion could be drawn.

The negotiation at the CM level had also failed as Mr Patnaik insisted that Chhattisgarh should stop construction work for three months to enable an expert committee to study the Mahanadi basin, water flow, environmental issues etc. But neither the Centre nor the Chattisgarh government conceded to this stop work demand following which Mr Patnaik demanded constitution of a Tribunal. BJD leaders here said the double speak of the BJP stands exposed.

The Prime Minister’s silence added salt to injury and highlighted the step-motherly attitude of the BJP led Centre towards Odisha and its people, said the BJD leaders. Odisha government moved the apex court when it found no support from the BJP led central government, they noted.

The basics of federalism were thrown to the winds , promises and assurances to form a tribunal by 18 November 2017 were breached by the centre. Silently, the centre was supporting the Chhattisgarh government but the apex court has put the lid on it all and asked the centre to form a tribunal within one month.